


Think This Over, Idiot

by Altatari, RonnieSilverlake



Series: Meteor Shower [2]
Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-10
Updated: 2012-10-10
Packaged: 2017-11-16 01:09:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/533823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Altatari/pseuds/Altatari, https://archiveofourown.org/users/RonnieSilverlake/pseuds/RonnieSilverlake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When True Cross Academy holds a ball event for Valentines, Rin thinks of asking Shiemi to accompany him to it. He doesn't seem to realize what this is meant to imply...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Think This Over, Idiot

Already ten minutes late to class Okumura Rin stood at the Entrance Hall of True Cross Academy, with a red rose in hand, staring at the stand of red roses with a particularly dumb expression on his face.

What was he supposed to do now? The thought of Suguro liking him in _that_ way was certainly nothing short of _strange_ , to say the least. Rin didn’t know what to think, for the moment; his head was in a spin. He had been thinking Bon hated him, for the longest while: when they had gotten to know each other, Bon thought Rin was a good-for-nothing lazy ass. Then Rin’s secret came out, and for the longest time, Bon hadn’t even spoken to him, which led Rin to believing he didn’t want anything to do with him — especially after he punched him in the face for saying rude things to his father. Getting to know Bon had thought of him as his friend all along had come as a shock to the elder Okumura twin… and now there was this, Suguro telling him he didn’t like him as _just_ a friend. What was Rin supposed to _do_?

But that was only the beginning of his troubles. He was still thinking about his earlier idea of giving a red rose to Shiemi, and only now did he realize that _maybe_ there was a sort of meaning behind the entire thing that he hadn’t quite caught up on.

A few more minutes of standing around idly, and Rin realized now there was actually no point in going to the lesson. Either way, he finally picked a good-looking rose, and sat down on top of the stairs in front of the school building, now sporting two flowers. Giving away the one he had gotten from Suguro would have just been wrong, in any case, regardless of what he would reply with (which he still had no idea of). So, now there he sat, rolling the one he picked for Shiemi between his fingers, waiting for class to be over. Whatever, he could give it to her as a friendly gesture, right? He’d just need to make sure she understood…

… Though, recalling the countless times Shiemi had managed to completely misunderstand him in the past… that either was or wasn’t going to work… 

***

Although Shiemi didn’t look any differently from the other students while dressed in her uniform, the poor girl stood out like a sore thumb in the midst of the other students, all of whom were enthusiastic over the festivities that hung in the air. Just as it had its perks, only being enrolled in the Cram school _did_ have its downsides as well. Occasionally it meant she that she missed hearing about Academy-wide events. In this case, she hadn’t been aware that an event had been occurring in the first place. In fact, it was only after seeing a number of students carrying around red roses, that the exwire’s curiosity get the better of her. Several inquiries later, and Shiemi had finally found the source of said flowers. The roses were absolutely gorgeous and so the tamer couldn’t help but stand in awe of the small cart. However, she still found herself a little confused by the concept of it all.

Her peers were rushing past her to grab what was left of the red roses, but the majority of the white and yellow ones had yet to be touched. Shiemi couldn’t help but wonder if there something the matter with them. Although she was aware that red was a popular color for the season, white and yellow were just as good, right? Though, she didn’t have much time to dwell over it, as the crowd around the flower cart only grew bigger. After getting elbowed a few times, she figured that perhaps standing there wasn’t such a good idea after all …

As she stepped away to read up about the event, Shiemi couldn’t help but notice a familiar combination of dark hair and a red sword case out of the corner of her eye. _Is that..?_ she thought, craning her neck around to get a better look. Sure enough, there was Rin sitting all by his lonesome. Inching further away from the chaos of the cart, she made her way toward him instead. Although she still clutched an event flyer in her hand, she was suddenly more interested in finding out why Rin had gone missing for a class period. After all, she was used to watching him fall asleep during classes, but it was rather unusual that he missed a lesson entirely. With that in mind, this was certainly the last place Shiemi had expected to run into her friend. Regardless, she was still happy to see him, whatever the reason.

“Hi Rin! I didn’t think I’d find you here.” She greeted him warmly, trademark smile spread upon her face. Setting her bag aside and smoothing her skirt, Shiemi took it upon herself to perch next to him on the steps. “I mean… you weren’t in class earlier, so I thought perhaps you weren’t feeling well or something…” She began to say, though her voice trailed off when she noticed the strange expression etched into his features. “U-um ….you are feeling okay, aren’t you?

***

Rin only became aware of the amount of time he had actually spent sitting around and staring at two flowers — _seriously, Okumura?_ — when he heard a familiar voice, and, upon looking up, he noticed that the one standing in front of him was exactly the person he had spent the last hour thinking about. Had class ended _already_?

“Oh, hi, Shiemi!” he greeted her, hoping his voice wouldn’t sound any different from usual. Why was he suddenly feeling so goddamn nervous? It wasn’t like this was such a hard task, after all, was it? “Oh, no, I just… didn’t feel like going.” Mentally, he berated himself for both the extremely stupid answer — if this was going to get into Yukio’s ear somehow, even if it wasn’t actually true (since he had wanted to go to the lesson originally, before he had lost track of time), he was set up for the lecture of the year — and the knot he felt forming in his stomach. What was he so anxious about, honestly? He hadn’t felt this bad when it was about fighting Amaimon…

Upon that realization, he clenched his teeth together for a moment. _Seriously, this is just stupid! Get yourself together, Rin!_ ”I’m fine!” he reassured Shiemi a moment later, his usual smile back on his face. If he was good at anything, it was appearing confident when he actually wasn’t. “Did I miss anything important?”

***

“I see….” She replied, somewhat surprised by his admission. For someone who said they were alright, he sure didn’t seem like it. Perhaps he wasn’t sick, but something about him just seemed… different. For a moment she gave him an almost questioning glance, but instead opted to take his word for it. It was only when he asked about class, that she seemed to forget about the issue entirely.

“O-oh, right! I have the notes for you, actually.” Shiemi rummaged around in her bag for a moment, before retrieving a few sheets of paper she had written on. “I was going to give these to Yuki for you, but since I happened to see you here and all…” She said, smiling in return as holding out the notes to him. “We just learned a couple new fatal verses..but other than that, you didn’t miss much of anything!”

During the exchange, the girl’s eyes couldn’t help but train directly to the red roses at the his side. In the recesses of her mind, Shiemi suddenly put two and two together as a knowing smile spread across her face. “Rin… ! Did you come here for the event too?” She asked suddenly, pointing down at the roses. Was that why he’d missed class? ….Maybe he’d wanted to see the flowers just like she did!

***

Rin managed to momentarily forget about everything else as he scanned over the notes Shiemi passed at him. New fatal verses…? More hours of sitting in his room and rotting his brain. _Magnificent._ He couldn’t help but pull his lips into a light frown for a moment, before looking up at Shiemi again with a smile. “Thanks a lot, Shiemi! Wait… are you sure it’s okay if I borrow these? I mean, don’t you need it?” He paused for a moment, eyebrows raising. “Don’t tell me you’ve actually taken double notes for me…”

As Shiemi seemed to notice the flowers, Rin felt himself pale once again. It was a funny feeling, given that he had thought he would blush instead, but he could feel his skin go cold as she glanced down at the two roses by his side. “Yeah… I guess you can say that,” he replied somewhat meekly, trying to get his fallen apart act together once more. This wasn’t going to work like this, _definitely_ not. Just what was wrong with him? This was just a friendly gesture, right? It was _supposed_ to be.

But wasn’t Shiemi going to misunderstand…? After what had happened with Bon just an hour before, Rin was now thoroughly confused about the entire event. Valentine’s day was something like… an event for… lovers…?

Well, _now_ he did blush. Maybe this was a bad idea. _Oh dear God, it wasn’t a good idea._ But the rose was there, now he had to do something with it, why not just give it and be done with it already? Was he going to just chicken out of it? Given the way Shiemi was now looking at him, he could guess there was no way to look _even more_ stupid in front of her, so there was nothing to lose… right?

With a sudden spurt of resolve, he grabbed the rose he picked for her, and he did so so vehemently that a few of the thorns pierced the skin of his palm, but he didn’t care. “This is for you…” he mumbled, holding it out, wondering if it was possible that he was now even redder, from the way his heated face felt.

***

At Rin’s question in reference to the notes, Shiemi just grinned, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear. ”It’s no problem! You have to memorize them, so I figured it would be easier if you had your own set!” She replied. That only made sense, didn’t it? Writing a few extra lines hadn’t seemed like a big deal to her at the time.

Though, when the conversation settled onto the subject of the flowers, For a moment she actually thought the other was going to be sick, as the color seemed to instantly drain from his face. Shiemi peered over at him, slightly concerned. Had she said something wrong? Before she could ask however, Rin had grabbed one of the flowers and he was giving it…. to her?

“For.. me…?” She repeated, though her voice squeaked a little as she did so. The words seemed to tumble from her lips, as her eyes jumped frantically from the rose to Rin’s face. It wasn’t like she hadn’t received flowers from him before… however, that had been from both of the twins. But why… was he…. ? Hesitantly she plucked the rose from his grasp, and for a moment she gazed at it, as if trying to fully understand the implications of such a thing. It was beautiful, there was no doubt, but—

“Oh…. Rin, your hand!” She exclaimed, her already frazzled thoughts shattering as she noticed the fresh blood staining his palm. The rose was placed to the side, his injury taking precedence for the moment.

By now, Shiemi was well aware that he was a fast healer. However, that didn’t deter the girl from pulling his hand into her lap, already dabbing at the small wounds with a clean tissue from her bag. Had they not been in public, she probably would’ve called out Nii, but the familiar really wasn’t an option at this moment. 

Head bowed, she was blushing furiously from the cover of blonde hair. The flower was still in eyesight, but Shiemi wasn’t really sure how to react. She couldn’t even bring herself to look up at him. What did it mean…. ? 

“U-um…. thank you… Rin..”

***

Rin rubbed the back of his head for a moment. It was so like Shiemi, to do something like that for him. He would have been grateful enough if it was for something like him being sick, but he just skipped… he didn’t really deserve this.

But a moment later, Shiemi finally took the rose from him, and all sane thoughts flew right out the window when she promptly began fussing over his hand, which he fruitlessly tried to pull away. “It’s fine, I’ll be fine, just leave it, really!” he replied vehemently, but seeing her expression, he finally gave in a moment later, and let her dab at his palm with her handkerchief.

She always did things for him he didn’t deserve.

Well, at least this was lessening the awkwardness of the entire situation… or so Rin thought, at least, until a moment later, when Shiemi finally finished treating him, and suddenly thanked him, and Rin found himself flushing beet red in a matter of a second yet again. Oh gosh.

“I, uh… yeah, don’t mention it…”

He had completely forgotten about the fact that he was supposed to get a response, too.

***

With the bleeding stopped, and without the excuse of treating his injuries, Shiemi was suddenly left defenseless. While it was true that she didn’t quite understand the entirety of this event, she wasn’t so silly to not realize what the rose was _supposed_ to signify. She had at least read that much of the flyer. The real question was what Rin had meant by it. But it wasn’t like she could just ask him that …could she? 

After all, she knew he thought of her as a friend… but, did he really.. think of her in that way? Shiemi _did_ like Rin a lot, but the thought of something more had never really crossed her mind. Well, at least not until now. With that in mind, the rose found its way into her hands once more, and for a moment the girl was silent, turning it over in her fingers.

“U-um… Rin..?” She asked suddenly, breaking the quiet between them. Though, when her gaze met his for a second, any push she’d had to question him fizzled out at the last moment.

 **Nope** , she couldn’t do it. 

“…is your hand feeling any better?” She blurted out, unable to think of anything else to say. The question was more or less a cop out, and she felt badly for it afterward, especially since he had been brave enough to give her the rose, no less, but— 

What was a girl to do?

***

Rin looked up again when Shiemi suddenly called out to him. Now that this ordeal was over and done with, his thoughts had already returned to the rest of the day’s classes and chores, like usual. Now that he heard his name, though, he glanced at Shiemi, eyebrow raising slightly. He had a feeling that what she ended up asking wasn’t what she had actually wanted to ask, but since it was just a feeling, he couldn’t really ask.

“Yeah…” he replied a bit hesitantly; after all, wasn’t it less than half a minute before that Shiemi treated the injury? Of course, Rin was a fast healer, but it was a bit quick even for him. The gashes would disappear in five minutes, or so. “Shiemi… why are you looking at me like that?”

It was only then that he remembered the process of the event once more, recalling the advertisement he had seen for it. Give a red rose, receive a white or yellow, if you get a white, you also get a… date… for the dance. Right. There was a dance.

“Oh, right… so, you wanna come with me tonight? I mean, you don’t need to reply right now…” Rin fell silent.

Oh God, he really didn’t think this over enough. _Idiot._ Now he was pretty damn sure Shiemi was going to misunderstand. And, what’s more, he made it seem as if he wanted her to reply right away. Which wasn’t what he had meant. He didn’t want to pressure her. Heck, by the way things looked, he would have been fine with just letting Shiemi have that rose for the sake of it, and be done with it! It was just _way_ too awkward for Rin to handle.

… It was only at this moment that another thought crossed Rin’s mind as well —

What if Shiemi refused?

***

Hm? O-oh! It’s ..nothing, ..really!” She squeaked, eyes averting from his immediately. Her cheeks were now a bright shade of red, completely unaware that she had been staring at him. The question she’d blurted out had been so out of the blue, that Shiemi hadn’t even picked up on the answer that he’d responded with. The girl’s train of thought was derailing rapidly, and it was all because of one. little. flower.

When he then proceeded to ask if she’d like to accompany him to the dance, Shiemi blanked completely. Normally, she would’ve said yes without any thought behind it…. but the way he was asking her, well, it was confusing. There was also the added factor of Rin having another rose to give away to someone, which by default meant that perhaps he didn’t mean anything by giving her a rose after all… When she introduced that singular thought into the equation, there really wasn’t much to think about. They were just friends right? …right. But then, why had he asked _her_ to go with **him**? … Gah! what could that mean? If it were at all possible, smoke would’ve been billowing out of the tamer’s ears with the amount of back and forth thinking occurring in her head.

At the very least, Rin was still sitting before her. Although he had said that she didn’t have to tell him at that very moment, she felt as though she owed him an answer. He’d missed class just to get roses, one of which had been for her! “Well, I….” She started to say, though her voice trailed off at the last moment. Glancing down at the rose he’d given her, she suddenly grew very quiet.

No.

She couldn’t do it.

She couldn’t answer him, not like this— _!_

And just like that, sans all of her belongings, Shiemi stood up and darted back into the hustle and bustle of the entrance hall.

***

As Shiemi opened her mouth to reply, Rin bit into his lip, the knot in his stomach tightening as he drew a breath in. He could see it clearly on her face, the confusion, the conflict, and it made him all the more nervous. Was she thinking of a kind way to let him down? Or was it something else entirely? Did she even realize the way Rin had meant it? Just _what was she thinking?_

Yet, it seemed Rin wasn’t going to get an answer for any of those, for Shiemi suddenly stuttered a half-finished sentence that didn’t make any sense, and then she darted off, leaving Rin there.

For a couple of seconds, Rin just stood in place, completely numb. She just _left_. Without really saying anything. With the state of mind Rin was in at that moment, it felt like a response already. She probably didn’t know how to say no to him. After what they had been through together in the past, Rin couldn’t really blame her for that; if it were the other way around, he would have felt more than horrible for having to let her down, too. But it still hurt; the way she just turned and ran for it, without telling him in the face. Rin would have thought he deserved at least that much, for the friendship he had thought they had.

After a couple of seconds, he stood up, picking up the rose he received from Bon. He had half a heart to just throw it away — not out of disrespect for his friend or his apparent feelings, just because Rin couldn’t bring himself to care about the entire event anymore, at all —, but then he decided against it. It would have been really rude, even if Suguro never got to know he did such a thing. He rolled it between his fingers as he started on his way, back to his dormitory to put it into water, or something.

And then, he would come back and go to class. This was just a regular school day, after all, wasn’t it? That was how he was supposed to feel about it. And then, later, he would need to reply to Suguro as well… but, for the moment, he couldn’t even bring himself to worry over that, as horrible as it felt.

Was he really just about to lose _two_ of his most precious friends on the same day…?

***

A rose.

That’s all that had crossed the girl’s mind when she had been about to give Rin her answer.

The flyer had mentioned something about responding with a rose, hadn’t it? So without considering anything else, Shiemi had taken off in the direction of where she had last seen the roses. After all, it only made sense that she needed to get one for him as well. At least, in her mind it did. If he gone through the trouble of going by the event’s rules, then so would she. It was only fair.

When she finally reached the flower cart, Shiemi breathed a sigh of relief. The red roses had been mostly cleared out, but there were still plenty of yellow and white ones to pick from. Though, she had come specifically for one color and one color only. Her fingers hovered momentarily over the assortment of flowers, before she snatched up the one of her choice. Immediately she turned on her heel, hurrying back to the stairs.

Upon her return, Shiemi had thought this would be easy….or so she’d hoped. 

Not exactly. There was a new problem. She was now plus one rose, but minus one boy. Rin was nowhere to be found. _Stupid. stupid. stupid._ She thought, scolding herself. Luckily enough, her things were still exactly how she had left them. But, why didn’t she think to tell him she was going to be right back? At this point, he probably thought she hadn’t taken him seriously at all.

Glancing about frantically, her eyes searched over crowd of students. And had it not been for the the bright red of his sword’s casing, Shiemi probably wouldn’t have spotted him at all. Of course, she could’ve just waited to see him in class later.. but this was something she had to do right now. Rose in hand, the girl gathered her things and set off in hot pursuit. Though, it wasn’t long before it became obvious that she wouldn’t be able to catch up with him, not at the rate she was going.

So instead she did the next best thing. ~~Shiemi used roar!!~~

_**“RIN!!!”** _

***

Upon hearing someone call after him, Rin stopped dead in his tracks. Turning around to look who it was, he recognized Shiemi right away as she was running after him, completely breathless. Completely uncomprehending, Rin started on his way back to her, wondering what on Earth could be on her mind this time.

Hadn’t she just run off…?

“Shiemi…?” he asked, his voice somewhat dazed, as he stopped right int front of her, waiting for her to catch her breath. “I thought you… never mind.”

Somehow, even though he had no idea what she was going to say, he didn’t feel so nervous anymore.

***

Noticing Rin had stopped, and then proceeded to walk back toward her, Shiemi slowed her own pace. When they met half way, she all but dropped everything else on the ground.

“So..rry.. I just wanted to give you this..” And before she had a moment to catch her breath, she quickly raised her arm, the white rose she had picked clutched tightly in her hand. 

Her hand trembled slightly, as if she was afraid he’d disappear again before she had a chance to give it to him. Whatever his reasoning for asking her was, Shiemi didn’t really care so much anymore. She wasn’t going to make the mistake of rejecting him again. They were friends, and that’s all that mattered to her.

Would he accept it after all that had happened… that was what she was really worried about at this point.

***

Rin’s eyes widened slightly as she raised her hand, a rose in it. Was that what she had disappeared for…? To get him a rose? She could have said so, or something…

But at that moment, that wasn’t what really mattered. Because as soon as Rin set his eyes upon the rose — _white_ —, he couldn’t take his eyes off for a very long moment. _White._ It really was white. She wasn’t refusing him. Even though Rin himself wasn’t even sure what it was that he had been offering. She was accepting it.

He reached out, and pulled the rose away gently, making sure he wouldn’t scratch her with the thorns. His own palm still throbbed a bit, and suddenly, the words caught up in his throat once more. But as Shiemi looked up at him, he finally realized she was probably just as confused as him, with the entire situation.

He took a moment to get his thoughts together, and then finally confirmed it to her. “I, uh… know this wasn’t the original purpose, but I really didn’t think it through, and… it was supposed to be a friendly, um, gesture.” Great, why did he have to start blabbering again? And what if Shiemi had thought he meant it in the other sense and replied according to that…? Then what Rin was saying was like rejecting her. He paled at the thought. _Dear God, this is becoming more and more complicated every second._ ”I… hope you don’t… mind…?”

***

As he took the rose from her, Shiemi released a held breath. “I just figured… since you went through all the trouble of getting one for me… I, um..” She started to say, before giving up in the interest of being able to breathe instead. 

When he asked her if she minded, she simply shook her head. “No, I don’t mind…” She replied softly, as if to reassure him that she hadn’t been offended. Inwardly, Shiemi was feeling a little relieved having heard him say that. At the moment she was content with just being his friend, and she certainly wasn’t expecting anything more from him than that. Although, that still didn’t explain her strange behavior only moments earlier. ”I guess… I was just a little surprised at first… no one’s ever given me something like that before….especially during something like this…” She admitted, glancing off to the side for a second, before smiling at him once more. 

“….but I’ve never been to a dance before and well, I’d still really like to go with you….!” She said, in an attempt to shift the conversation away from the earlier mishap of sorts. ”It’ll be fun, right?”

***

Seeing her smile, relief washed over Rin once more, pulling the corners of his mouth up into one of his trademark grins. He couldn’t have been more grateful to have a friend like Shiemi; nobody else was so accepting of him, perhaps not even Yukio. Here he was, making a complete idiot out of himself, and Shiemi just smiled and said it was okay. Rin couldn’t help but believe her; believe that as long as she thought of him as a friend, it would be okay. Whatever “it” was.

“Yup! It’ll be fun!” he replied, readjusting the bag on his shoulder. “… See you in the evening, then, I guess?”

Somewhere, a clock chimed, and Rin flinched involuntarily, eyes widening slightly as he realized that the day had barely started, actually. “… Uh, I mean, see you in the next class… in… ten minutes…”

It was still a regular schoolday, after all…


End file.
